Darts are projectiles that are thrown or shot at targets either recreationally or in veterinary practice. The target can be a moving or stationary object, or the target can be an animal. In sport, darts are used primarily to test and hone a person's accuracy. In veterinary practice, darts are used to deliver drugs, e.g., via Remote Drug Delivery (RDD), scare off unwanted animals, to remove a small amount of tissue from an animal (e.g., for DNA analysis), to acquire a tissue sample for analysis (i.e., a biopsy), to implant a small solid device, such as an electric transmitter or transponder, in an animal, and for other purposes.
In particular, RDD is a popular method for delivering drugs to animals on a global scale. The following are examples of audiences whom use RDD:                Veterinarian use in delivery of drugs to unapproachable animals (unapproachable meaning feral, wild, aggressive, etc.),        Capture and relocation of animals in support of animal control needs in urban environments,        Capture of endangered species for administration of radio tags, etc.,        Capture of animals on exotic game ranches,        Delivery of antibiotics and or other drug delivery in the zoo or on exotic ranches as well as domestic cattle, sheep, goats, etc.        
Typically, administration is performed by a trained specialist who attempts to locate an animal within a safe darting distance and deliver a dosage of the desired drug via shooting a dart into the soft tissue area of the target animal.
There are many variables that determine the success of drug administration, including the anxiety of the target animal. As an example, an injured whitetail deer will have an elevated level of excitement thereby slowing the administration of a tranquilizer. In this instance, it might take a longer duration of time for the drugs to take effect, thereby allowing the deer to run a long distance and possibly into heavy coverage (e.g., thick woods, brush, etc.). Once this takes place, it can be extremely difficult to recover the tranquilized animal as there is no easy way to find it.
In many cases, the drug administered is an opiate-based drug. Recovery of a dart is crucial and, in the event the dart misses the animal, finding the dart could be difficult. This is especially crucial in urban-related delivery (i.e., removal of stray dogs, cats, etc.).
Darts are also often used to collect biopsies or small samples of tissue for analysis. For example, a small amount of dermis and hypodermis material becomes lodged in the dart tip, and a technician can then remove the dart and assay the tissue for DNA or another desired biometric.
In today's current market, there are base-level darts that have no tracking mechanism and rely on the ability to visually watch the animal until the drugs take effect and the animal can be approached. The obvious limitation of this is that one cannot see the animal when clear land is minimal and/or there is heavy cover. Additionally, in the market exists a very expensive GPS tracker that is attached to the dart but requires both a transponder and a receiver to track the animal/dart. In many applications, this is cost-prohibitive and thereby typically used for a small percentage of overall RDD scenarios.
Typically, lighted nocks for arrows leverage a pre-existing LED/Battery combination called a “bobber light”. This is a common product that has been on the market for a number of years originally designed for fishing. The novel aspect related to the lighted nocks is the design of the polycarbonate nock housing surrounding the “bobber light”. This housing and related technology is specifically designed for arrows and not necessarily applicable for RDD.
Lighted nocks for arrows are turned on at the “release” of the arrow. This design is based on the desired ability to “watch the arrow” in flight (e.g., like a tracer device). This is counterproductive to darting as the slow travel of the dart, if activated on “release” would be quickly visually identified by the target animal and avoided by moving out of the way of the traveling dart.
The art lacks a RDD device and a dart in general that is activated upon impact and can be visually tracked in a wide range of environments.